EFJ urges Turkey to stop ‘judicial harassment’ against journalists

The European Federations of Journalists (EFJ) and its global affiliate and International Federations of Journalists (IFJ) have called on Turkey to stop what they called judicial harassment against Turkish journalists.

Ayşenur Parıldak, a former reporter from the now-closed Zaman daily, was released early on May, 2 but was re-arrested by the same court hours before leaving prison as a prosecutor objected to the initial ruling.

“We call on the Turkish authorities to stop the judicial harassment against journalists and media workers and stop misusing anti-terror legislations to maintain professional journalists in detention for evolving charges. We will report these cases to the Council of Europe’s platform for the protection and safety of journalists,” the two organizations said in a statement on May 10.

Parıldak was first arrested on Aug. 11, 2016 after spending eight days in detention. She was covering court stories for the Zaman daily and also a student at the law faculty of Ankara University. She was planning to graduate this summer and continue her career as a lawyer because she was fired by the new administration of the Zaman newspaper, which was appointed by the government.

Sending a letter to the Cumhuriyet daily from prison, Parıldak said in October of last year: “I was subjected to violence and sexual abuse. I was interrogated day and night for eight days. They [police officers] were questioning me while they were under the influence of alcohol and were not avoiding saying this. Then the court process began, and here I am. I stayed here in a ward for one month. Then 20 people were taken out of wards and placed in cells, which is solitary confinement. … I am afraid of being forgotten here.”